Earlier, Venezuelan sources had reported the seizure stemmed from a 17-year-old lawsuit with a dealer group in Maracaibo, but it turns out the situation is much worse than first thought.

Enrique Tahan, head of corporate and government relations for General Motors in Venezuela, told the New York Times that the plant has effectively been occupied for the last 42 days after being taken over by one of the company’s unions.

GM did ask the government for help reclaiming the facility, but instead, in a stunning show of socialism, the government took over the Valencian plant for itself.

“In other words, we are twice out of control of our plant,” Mr. Tahan told The Grey Lady. Members of the union were still able to enter the plant after the takeover, but the government was still barring GMV’s managers from setting foot inside.

“GM strongly rejects the arbitrary measures taken by the authorities and will vigorously take all legal actions to defend its rights,” the company said in a statement earlier.

This isn’t the first, nor the last time the Venezuelan government will take someone else’s stuff, since 1998 it has expropriated more than 1,400 private businesses.